


The Air We Breathe

by slstmaraudersjple



Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Anti Mystic Falls Gang, Caroline Forbes-centric, F/M, anti-Damon, anti-Elena, anti-bonnie, anti-stefan, caroline and liz actually have a relationship, caroline does NOT put up with the mystic falls gang bullshit, caroline sings, klaus has to win his soulmate over, klaus has waited a thousand years for his soulmate, klaus is team caroline, klaus is trash for caorline, matt donovan is a sweetheart and a good friend, the one where caroline deserves better and gets it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:21:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26397826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slstmaraudersjple/pseuds/slstmaraudersjple
Summary: When Caroline learns that her soulmate is the thousand year old Original Hybrid, she cries, because she knows her world is ending. When Klaus learns that his soulmate is a baby vampire, he is intrigued, because he has waited his entire life for her. Soulmates AU.
Relationships: Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson
Comments: 28
Kudos: 331
Collections: However Long It Takes





	The Air We Breathe

**Author's Note:**

> ***This was first posted to FFN under the same username.***
> 
> Klaroline soulmates AU is probably one of my favorite things to write, so unsurprisingly, here’s another one! Song lyrics (in order of appearance) are from “Blackbird” by Sarah McLachlan, “Love Story” by Taylor Swift, “Counting Stars” by OneRepublic, “Demons” by Imagine Dragons, and “Starlit Nights” by AJ Rafael. I don’t own any of those songs, or the TVD/TO and related books/series.

Caroline is born into the world with a soulmate mark on the inside of her left wrist: three jagged lines that form a triangle.

When she is old enough to know what soulmates are, she finds herself tracing the lines of her soulmate mark, wondering who her soulmate is. It becomes a habit, a secret ritual that brings her endless comfort.

She dreams of being swept off her feet and carried into a happily-ever-after with her Prince Charming.

As a child, Caroline doesn’t know about the monsters that roam the world. She doesn’t know about the supernatural history of Mystic Falls. She doesn’t know that witches are real, along with vampires and werewolves, and other creatures that go bump in the night.

She doesn’t find out until the day Katherine Pierce smothers her to death in the hospital room, and she wakes up as a vampire.

* * *

Klaus has long believed that his soulmate is dead or that he will never meet her. His soulmate mark, three jagged lines that formed a triangle, is on his back, the lines imprinted on his upper right shoulder.

Until 1992, when the soulmate mark on his back flares to life, hot and burning, and he knows then that his soulmate has come into the world.

He feels a warmth flowing through him whenever she touches her mark. It is frequent, periodic, throughout the day. He imagines her tracing her fingertips over her mark and drawing comfort from it. It warms his heart to know that she thinks about him as much as he thinks about her

He wonders what she looks like, what all the facets of her personality are, and what her hopes and dreams for her life are. He doesn’t think that she anticipated being the soulmate to an Original, but he hopes that she’ll be open to the idea of the supernatural.

He’s not in a rush to find her – he figures he’ll give her a couple decades before he starts searching for her. That way, she’ll have time to grow into herself, to figure out what she wants out of life. Besides, he has other priorities, like breaking his curse and creating his army.

Klaus contents himself with the brush of her soul against his, whenever she touches her mark, and leaves it at that.

Until 2010, when the mark suddenly glows hot, almost unbearably so. And then it fades to faint lines.

His soulmate has died. Or has been killed.

His soulmate is only 18 years old.

At first, Klaus stills. He marvels at the feeling of sudden loss in his chest, and is numb at first.

But then, anger quickly grows, and before he knows it, he angrily swipes out, sweeping everything off the table and destroying it.

He stops when he feels the mark flare back to life, and a look at the mirror shows that the color of the lines have changed, shifting from a black ink to a dark grey, and understanding dawns on him.

His soulmate is alive, and she is now a baby vampire.

A chill crawls down his spine, as she is oh so very vulnerable right now. He spends days wondering how much she knows about their world, if she is aware of her weaknesses to sunlight and wood, if she will be alright until he finds her.

He spends days tracing the lines on his back, trying to offer his soulmate comfort as best as he can, hoping to remind her that she’s not alone, wherever she is.

He feels a growing need to find her, to wrap her up in protective spells so that no harm can come to her, and to integrate her into their world.

 _Soon_ , he tells his wolf.

* * *

The Mikaelson family has come into town. Apparently, they are the _Original_ vampires, the oldest and first vampires to ever exist, and they want Elena’s blood to break a curse.

Her friends aren’t speaking to her. They often leave her out of their plots and plans, dismissing her as useless, convinced that they are keeping her safe by doing so.

Since her awakening as a vampire, her soulmate mark has faded to pale lines, and it doesn’t bring her the same comforting warmth that it used to.

Caroline has never felt so alone.

She finds herself unable to stop touching her mark, desperately trying to hold onto her hopes and dreams. It is a habit she can’t quite break away from, although she takes to covering her mark nowadays, usually with carefully applied makeup and a thin cardigan.

She doesn’t know who these MIkaelsons were, and she’ll be damned if she accidentally puts her soulmate in danger.

But she’s a monster now. Who even knows if her soulmate will want her anymore? The thought of her soulmate’s rejection breaks her heart, and she can’t stop crying herself to sleep at nighttime as she whispers apologies to her soul’s other half.

Caroline’s been feeling restless, keyed up and on edge. She’s been experiencing a strange tugging sensation in her chest, the feeling of being drawn somewhere she doesn’t know. She wonders if her soulmate is nearby, and fear for her soulmate’s safety causes her to do her best to ignore the feeling in her chest.

But still, she finds herself distracted by thoughts of her soulmate.

So she tries to counter-distract herself.

Matt understands, maybe better than anyone else, what it feels like to be caught up in something that you didn’t ask for. He lets her sing at the Grill on the nights that he closes up, and she collects the tips she gets and donates them to various charities. Tonight, it’s the animal shelter, where she tries to volunteer on the weekends when she’s not busy with school.

It’s the only outlet she has left. When she’s sitting up on a barstool on the stage, sometimes holding a guitar and sometimes playing the piano keyboard and sometimes just holding the microphone in her hand, and the lights are dimmed and the spotlight’s on her, she can forget all the problems happening right now.

She can forget where she is and who she is for an hour, and pretend that she’s singing for her soulmate. That he’s watching her from the audience, smiling in adoration, waiting until the end of her performance to sweep her up and praise her.

If only.

* * *

_“Blackbird singing in the dead of night,  
Take these broken wings and learn to fly.  
All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise.”_

* * *

At first, she sings songs that remind her of loss.

Sometimes her mom and her sheriffs stop by to pick up some food for the station. Her mom always stays for a couple minutes, watching her with a soft expression and a measure of pride. She always makes sure to hug Caroline before she returns to work, telling her to be safe and reminding her to lock the doors when she gets home.

Sometimes her friends are there, watching her with sad smiles. But they never talk to her afterwards, never come any closer. She feels the distance between them growing bigger by the day, like a dark and looming abyss, and she’s not sure if there’s anything left for them to save.

Or if they were ever friends in the first place.

So then she chooses songs that make her think of her soulmate.

Caroline thinks that it’s silly to be singing about princesses and fairytales and superheroes when the reality of the world they live in is so messed up, but if she can’t have her fairytale, then at least she can have her dreams.

Sometimes her gaze sweeps over unfamiliar faces, faces watching her with varying expressions of curiosity, people she think might be the Mikaelsons but isn’t sure about until Matt confirms it for her.

She doesn’t dare let her gaze linger, but she finds herself mesmerized by a pair of striking blue-grey eyes that seem to draw her in.

She wonders if her soulmate has eyes like that.

* * *

_“Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone,  
I’ll be waiting, all there’s left to do is run.  
You’ll be the prince and I’ll be the princess,  
It’s a love story, baby just say yes.”_

* * *

The girl singing has a soft voice with a melodic quality to it. It’s sweet and pleasant and oddly soothing.

Klaus recognizes her – the baby vampire associated with the doppelganger’s circle of friends. Interesting that she isn’t involved in their plots and schemes against him.

Her name is Caroline Forbes.

He observes her, with her eyes closed as her fingers pluck at the guitar on her lap. She’s wearing a floral dress with a thin cardigan and ankle boots. The spotlight is like a halo that emphasizes the brightness of her golden hair. When she finishes the chorus of her current song, her eyes open to reveal an endless ocean that pulls him in.

Her gaze sweeps over the room and land on his, and for a moment he thinks that the world stops.

The soulmate mark on his back becomes an uncomfortable claw, and there is a tugging sensation in his chest. His wolf howls, demanding him to follow.

When Caroline finishes her set for the evening, the patrons in the Grill send her off with a round of applause, and she thanks them with a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. She cheerfully reminds the audience that tonight’s tips will be donated to the animal shelter before she hops off the barstool she’s perched on. She sets her guitar against the back wall and makes her way to the bar, where she converses with the bartender for a couple minutes and then retrieves her purse from behind the bar. Then she makes her way out of the Grill.

Klaus finds himself following her, unsure of what to say to her. He ignores the curious expressions from his siblings’ faces; he’ll deal with them later. He has a feeling he knows what this baby vampire is to him, but he _needs_ to confirm it for himself. After thinking through a couple options, he finally settles for honesty: “You’ve got a lovely voice, sweetheart.”

She freezes in her step, slowly turns around.

It’s dusk right now, but darkness is slowly creeping over Mystic Falls. Klaus doesn’t hear anyone else around in their immediate vicinity; it’s just the two of them at this moment.

Her eyes sweep over his form, and he intentionally leaves his stance relaxed and as non-threatening as he can make himself for the time being. She tries to keep her expression subtle, but he can almost see her thought process, the way her fingers tighten on her purse straps as she contemplates whether or not she should run.

When she finally speaks, her voice is low, not exactly hostile, but devoid of warmth. “I suppose this is the part where you tell me it’d be stupid to run.” Her eyes, now a dark and stormy blue, flash with equal parts irritation and fear. Her stance is defensive, like she’s debating whether or not to run, but her head is held up high with a certain fearlessness to it that he finds endearing. Klaus finds himself amused and intrigued by this baby vampire.

“I think you’re clever enough to decide that for yourself, love,” he responds, careful to keep amusement out of his voice, forcing his words to come out cool.

“I think,” she says slowly, in the same tone as him, “that you’re a thousand-year-old killer and that you’re smart enough to have done your research or to have minions doing your research, and that you know who I am and where I live.” She pauses for a moment before she adds in a quieter voice, “And I think that if you’re not going to kill me, you’ll threaten my mom if I do something you don’t like.”

“Do you now?”

“What do you even want with me?” She asks instead. “I don’t know anything about what my friends are planning, _not that we’re really friends anymore or anything,_ ” she adds quietly, under her breath, and continues without missing a beat, stressing, “ _and_ I’m just a baby vampire. I’m no threat to you.”

“I think,” he says slowly, “that there’s something you’re not telling me.”

He can feel her rapid heartbeat, sense her rising panic.

“I think,” she stresses, veins appearing on her face as her fangs slide out, “that whatever it is, it’s _none_ of your business.”

Not the slightest bit threatened by this baby vampire, all he feels is growing amusement.

Instead of responding, he says instead, “Tell me, Caroline. You might be a baby vampire, but have you heard of the term _“soulmates”_?” Her eyes widen at the word, and her entire body goes rigid. He smirks as he continues, “Ah. You have. Good. Then you’re aware that soulmates share identical marks somewhere on their bodies.”

Klaus purposely pauses for a moment, hesitating to continue, but he presses forward. He just has a _feeling_ , and he needs to know. So he confides in her, saying, “I have one on my back, on my upper right shoulder. It’s three lines, like a triangle.”

_“It’s three lines, like a triangle.”_

* * *

Caroline freezes, her breath coming harshly.

Oh God. Could it be…? Could _he_?

“I wonder where yours is,” Klaus murmurs. She blinks, and suddenly, he’s standing in front of her, impossibly close. She can feel his breath ghosting over her skin, and she involuntarily shivers.

She instinctively reaches out to shove him away, but he wraps his fingers around her wrist, stopping her. She feels a connection between them, and it terrifies her.

Caroline tries to pull her hand back, desperate to put some distance between them, but Klaus’ grip clamps tightly over her like manacles. His fingers brush over the inside of her wrist, where her soulmate mark is, and she freezes, her eyes wide.

There’s an undeniable spark, a warmth that seems to flow from him to her, spreading throughout her entire being. Her other arm goes slack, her fingers forgetting that they’re holding onto something, and she doesn’t notice when her purse falls from her shoulder and lands on the floor.

He notices, his eyes flickering away for the briefest of moments before turning their attention back to her wrist. After a moment, he pushes back the sleeve of her cardigan and rubs his thumb over the makeup covering her mark, slowly revealing the lines on her wrist.

He stills.

As his thumb brushes over her soulmate mark, it flares to life, hot and burning, shooting through her this time. It’s intense and electrifying, lighting every single one of her cells on fire.

Caroline staggers back, her back pressing into the wall. Her legs give out beneath her, and she slides to the floor, staring at him. The undeniable truth shakes her to the core of her being, and she swears she can’t breathe.

_Klaus Mikaelson is her soulmate._

* * *

Klaus watches her with astonishment, surprise and uncertainty flickering across his face. He slowly, deliberately, sits down across from her, casually crossing his legs. He doesn’t let go of her wrist, his thumb slowly rubbing soothing circles over her mark.

“Breathe, sweetheart,” he murmurs. “You’re safe.”

To her surprise, she calms down.

They sit in silence for god knows how long, just staring at each other, unsure of what to say.

Caroline doesn’t even know where to start.

She eventually comes to her senses, realizing how late it’s getting. She checks the time on her phone and swears. Her mom should be finishing up her shift and heading home soon.

“I… have to go.” She stutters, scrambling upwards. She grabs her purse, making sure all of its contents are still there, turns to glance at him with uncertainty, says awkwardly, “I guess I’ll… see you around or something,” and then she turns and flees.

To her surprise, he lets her go, watching her with dark hooded eyes. He doesn’t move from his position on the floor, where he’s still sitting with his legs crossed. She swears she sees a spark of emotion cross him at her words, but that could be her imagination.

She rushes home, her fingers scrambling to close the door behind her and sliding the locks into place. Then she toes off her shoes and staggers upstairs to her bed, wrapping her blankets around her and cries.

_Klaus Mikaelson, the thousand year old Original Hybrid, is her soulmate._

Caroline cries, because she knows her world is ending. Nothing will ever be the same again.

* * *

When Klaus learns that his soulmate is a baby vampire, he is intrigued, because he has waited his entire life for her. When he touches her soulmate mark for the first time, sees those identical lines echoed in his own skin, and their connection flares to life, it’s the most ecstatic sensation he has ever experienced.

Klaus has never known what it feels like to need another person the way he needs his soulmate… until he meets her. It’s insatiable, delirious, and exhilarating, and a thousand other emotions, all at once.

If he’s being honest with himself, he could just sit and stare at her forever.

But their time must come to an end, and it does, when she finally checks the time on her phone and gasps at how late it is. It’s almost adorable how flustered she is as she scrambles to grab her purse, checks its contents to make sure she doesn’t forget anything. Then, she finally turns to him, mumbles awkwardly, “I guess I’ll… see you around or something,” and well, flees.

He’s left sitting in the alleyway by himself, legs still crossed from where he sat down earlier, watching her leave with a measure of fascination.

His soulmate, such a fierce and stunning and flighty little thing, he muses.

He’s going to have to be careful in how he approaches her.

* * *

Matt texts her the next day and tells her that she raised a total of $2682 last night. When Caroline blinks and has him repeat the total again, he tells her that someone stopped by at the end of the night before he closed and dropped a wad of cash into the tip jar, specifying that the tip was to be donated to the animal shelter. That, along with the tips that Caroline collected earlier that evening, brought the total to $2682.

She blinks again, taking a moment to collect herself before she asks what time that was. Matt responds with a time that she vaguely recognizes as after she ran away from Klaus, to get home before her mom came home. But when she presses him for details, he can’t recall who the person was, just the instructions, and Caroline recognizes that her friend has been compelled to forget the identity of the donor.

But she knows exactly who the mysterious donor is.

She just doesn’t know why.

* * *

_“I feel the love and I feel it burn, down this river every turn.  
Hope is a four-letter word, make that money, watch it burn.  
Old, but I’m not that old. Young, but I’m not that bold.  
And I don’t think the world is sold, I’m just doing what we’re told.  
And I, feel something so wrong with doing the right thing.  
I could lie, could lie, could lie,  
Everything that drowns me makes me wanna fly.”_

* * *

She is immediately suspicious when she receives a text from Elena, asking Caroline to meet her and Bonnie at the Grill.

Her suspicions prove to be correct when Elena asks for her help in a plot against the Mikaelsons.

Before Elena can even delve into the details of such a plot, Caroline hisses, “Just what do you think I could do as a _baby vampire_ that the _Salvatores_ can’t? Or, is it that it doesn’t matter if I’m collateral damage, as long as precious _Elena_ is safe and happy, and that she can choose between the two brothers that she can’t make up her mind about, is that it?” She knows that she sounds bitter, her words coming out venomous, and for once in her life, she doesn’t give a damn.

A wall of ice hits her, and then she’s soaking wet. Water’s dripping down her face, her hair, her clothes. Ice cubes litter the table, and a couple have ended up in her lap.

It takes her a moment to realize that Elena threw her cup of water at her. Elena, who is now watching her with horrified eyes, one hand covering her mouth and an empty cup in her other hand.

The Grill falls silent as everyone is now watching the scene unfold.

Caroline’s breathing fast, her nerves alight. She mentally stomps down on her monster’s instincts to rear its head, the instincts that tell her to strike back, instincts that demand blood for the slight. Anger and irritation run through her veins, followed by the traces of embarrassment.

She grits her teeth, grabs her purse, and tosses down a couple of bills as she says curtly, “Don’t bother. I’m leaving.”

She doesn’t want empty apologies, false pretenses of friendship, or to be used as collateral damage.

As she slides out of the booth, she notices that Bonnie has a hand out under the table, ready to magically intervene. Ready to protect Elena in case Caroline _lost control_.

Because she’s just a baby vampire, after all. She’s not good for anything except, apparently, as bait and collateral damage.

Caroline fixes the Bennett witch with a hard look, and she sees Bonnie’s face fill with regret.

“Don’t bother me again.” She tells Bonnie and Elena, and then she leaves.

As soon as she senses that she’s alone, she blurs to the forest. She makes her way to the lake, makes sure that she’s alone before she sits down and lets herself give into the tears that she’s been struggling to keep at bay.

_Be a good girl, Caroline._

She’s so tired of trying to be good, of trying to be perfect.

Her friends obviously aren’t the people she thought they were. They don’t trust her; they just want to use her.

She’s done with them.

They got themselves into this mess – they can damn well get themselves out. Caroline has her life planned out, and it does not involve becoming collateral damage in the supernatural world’s stupidest game of chicken.

* * *

When Klaus receives a call from Kol, he’s both perturbed and concerned.

For one, Kol never calls when he can text. His brother is rather fond of sending cryptic messages with emojis and slang text that annoys the hell out of Elijah. Rebekah usually finds the messages amusing, but Klaus finds himself too impatient to attempt deciphering the messages.

But also, he can feel his soulmate’s emotions. Something (more likely _someone_ ) has hurt Caroline, made her angry and sad and disappointed, and he gets the feeling that she’s about to _cry_.

“What?” He snaps into his cellphone.

“You just missed out on the most interesting show,” Kol comments, unperturbed by his irritation. “The doppelganger and the Bennett witch had a fight with the baby vampire. Caused a scene at the Grill. Well, I guess it was more the doppelganger and the baby vampire. The Bennett witch didn’t do anything, just watched.”

_What? Caroline was involved in an altercation? Was she hurt?_

“From my understanding,” Kol continues, interrupting his thoughts, “it sounded like they were trying to loop the baby vampire into their plans. She’s a tasty little thing, and clever too. She refused to go along with them, said they were being stupid. The doppelganger grew upset and threw her water cup at her. The baby vampire just left.”

Ah. So that would explain the sudden surge of emotions. Or at least, part of them.

“Keep an eye on the doppelganger and the Bennett witch. Tell Bekah and Elijah to hunt down and incapacitate the Salvatores.” He orders before hanging up, not giving Kol the chance to respond. His phone chimes moments later, with text messages from his younger brother that he ignores.

He flashes off towards the direction his soulmate mark is pulling him, and he finds himself in the forest, near a lake. He can smell the scent of tears and hear the faint sounds of sobbing, and he immediately knows that Caroline is there.

As if she can sense him approaching, she calls out, not looking up from her position, “Go away.”

Klaus doesn’t think he physically can. His legs feel like they’re rooted to the ground, like he can’t go anywhere except closer to her. It must be the soulmate bond, he muses as he takes a step closer, ignoring her request.

He settles down near her, careful to leave some distance between them as a sign of respect to her.

He listens as she eventually stops crying, her breathing ragged as she gulps in deep breaths.

“What are you doing here?” She finally asks, her voice quiet.

He shrugs, unsure of how to answer. He finally settles for, “My wolf drew me here. I could feel you.”

She doesn’t respond, drawing her legs up and wrapping her arms around herself. Eventually, Klaus can feel the wave of her emotions fade, and he can feel her calm down.

They don’t say anything else.

Night eventually falls, and Caroline finally stands up, brushing herself off. Klaus finds himself falling in step alongside her as they quietly make their way out of the woods and back into town.

He walks her home, stands outside for a moment and watches as his soulmate walks into her home and closes the door behind her. He listens for the turn of the lock on the door, satisfied when he hears it click.

It takes him a moment to realize that she’s standing behind the door, not moving.

His eyebrows furrow in confusion, wondering why she’s standing there. And then he hears it: her voice a quiet whisper as she says, _“Thank you.”_

Klaus swallows, emotion caught in his throat before he can finally respond, his voice a little rough, “You’re welcome, sweetheart.”

It feels… _peaceful_.

He relishes in that feeling as he makes his way home.

Unfortunately for him, as all things tend to be, it does not last.

* * *

_She’s not safe._

It’s the only thought on his mind after Elijah and Rebekah inform him that the Salvatore brothers are current _guests_ in the Mikaelson home, that they’ve been bled of the vervain in their system and that they’re ready for interrogation.

Klaus goes through their standard interrogation questions, compels Damon and Stefan to answer his questions truthfully, to the fullest extent of their knowledge and abilities, and to not attempt to deceive him in any way, shape, or form. He asks them about their current plots, plans, and ideas, about their intentions to harm him and his family. Klaus learns that it is Damon’s idea to use Caroline as bait, with Stefan reluctantly agreeing to the plan since it allows the doppelganger to remain safe.

When he believes that he has exhausted the Salvatore brothers’ collective knowledge, he compels them to bring him the doppelganger and to not do anything that will go against the Mikaelsons’ interests, including using Caroline as bait.

He compels Stefan to forget Damon ever existed, and he orders Kol to get rid of the older Salvatore in whichever fashion pleases him. His younger brother simply grins in response before he reaches for his favorite baseball bat.

The very thought of any possible risk coming to Caroline is unacceptable.

Klaus will not allow it to happen.

* * *

_“When the curtain’s call is the last of all,  
when the lights fade out, all the sinners crawl.  
So they dug your grave and the masquerade  
will come calling out at the mess you made._

_Don’t want to let you down, but I am hell-bound,  
though this is all for you, don’t wanna hide the truth.  
No matter what we breed, we still are made of greed,  
This is my kingdom come, this is my kingdom come._

_When you feel my heat, look into my eyes,  
It’s where my demons hide, it’s where my demons hide  
Don’t get too close, it’s dark inside,  
It’s where my demons hide, it’s where my demons hide.”_

* * *

Tonight, she’s standing at the keyboard. The microphone is set up so that she doesn’t have to hold it. Her fingers trail over the familiar keys, and her eyes are closed, but her body vibrates with energy. She’s bouncing lightly on the balls of her toes, a constant motion.

She starts off with light, upbeat music, and her next selection is a bit darker and grittier. And darker and grittier, and she’s no longer singing about princesses and happy endings, but about nightmares and demons.

At some point, she feels the soulmate mark on her wrist flare to life, and she knows that Klaus is here. Even though she’s not looking at the audience, she knows that her soulmate has arrived. She can feel his surprise through their bond, at her final song selection for the evening.

She barely steps out the back door of the Grill before a hand wraps around her wrist, and the world blurs as Klaus flashes them away, somewhere into the nearby woods.

He presses her into a tree, and before she can open her mouth to say something, he slants his lips over hers, interrupting her.

Her gasps quickly turn into moans of delight, and she feels herself become soft and pliant in his arms, floating on a cloud of hazy contentment. He kisses her with dizzying masterful skill – his teeth nibbling on her lips, his tongue plundering her mouth, his hands moving from her hips to her spine. At the sound of her moans, he groans, his voice soft and velvety, and it sends a jolt of desire straight to her core. His lips trace a line of tiny kisses from her neck to her temple and then he nips at her ear. It’s incredibly erotic, and she feels herself growing damp with evidence of her desire.

He is everywhere. She feels his presence envelop her, and it’s the most wonderful thing. Her senses are heightened, and she’s on the brink of pleasure, and everything feels so fucking incredible. His hands slide up to tangle themselves in her hair, and then slowly, reluctantly, he pulls away to stare at her. She can’t quite help the small whine of protest that comes tumbling from her lips at the loss of his body heat against hers.

They’re both breathing harshly. It’s hard to focus, and she’s more than a little dazed and distracted, and she’s confused for a moment because she was _really_ enjoying herself and she’s not quite sur why he stopped. When she finally looks at him, he has an expression of smug satisfaction on his face as he just _looks_ at her with wonderment.

But then she sees it. The flicker of regret.

Before she can ask about it (or do anything else, really), his hands tighten their grip, and she feels a deft pressure on her neck as he _twists_.

Her world goes black.

* * *

He’s had a thousand years’ worth of sexual experience, and plenty of really good sex during that time.

But fuck, kissing his soulmate is the most incredible sensation he’s ever experienced.

The way she practically melts into his arms, the soft mewls that spill from her lips, the tantalizing smell of her arousal. He’s never had to fight so hard to maintain some semblance of self-control. It’s so easy to let himself get lost in the moment, to forget where he is and who he is and why he’s here.

He thinks that if kissing Caroline is so wonderful and intense, that having all of her just might be his undoing. He knows that there will be no going back after he has her, and for some reason, the thought of being tethered to this baby vampire for eternity doesn’t bother him as much as it used to.

He regrets pulling back from their kiss, although he does relish in the dazed look on her face, with her dilated eyes and her flushed cheeks. The small whine of protest that she makes when he does, fills him with a measure of pride and satisfaction, that he can elicit such a sound from her.

He sees the momentary look of confusion on her face before he snaps her neck. She falls into his arms, and he scoops her up, cradling her against his body. When she wakes up she will most certainly not be happy with him.

But he’s confident that he will earn her forgiveness, eventually.

* * *

Caroline refuses to speak to him.

She refuses to think of the wounded look on his face, the puppy eyes he gives her, when she stubbornly turns away from him.

She’s _furious_ with him – he had a witch spell the safehouse so that Caroline can’t leave without a Mikaelson escort. At any other time, she might be amused at the unease she can feel through their soulmate bond. But right now, she’s annoyed. She can’t believe the nerve of her soulmate.

Caroline is pulled from her thoughts when a familiar blonde vampire walks into the room.

Rebekah Mikaelson.

She doesn’t actually know the female Original all too well on a personal level, but there’s been a brewing animosity between them ever since the older vampire tried to steal Caroline’s spot as cheerleading captain. It didn’t help at all that Rebekah was elevated to co-captain alongside Caroline.

“So you’re Nik’s soulmate,” the female Original states, looking not at all impressed.

“And you’re his sister.” She responds dryly.

“Obviously,” Rebekah says in a disdainful tone, her voice very matter-of-fact. “If Nik hasn’t decided to kill you by now, then he’s decided he’s going to keep you. Are you honestly surprised to learn he has an irrational, homicidally impulsive need to keep you safe, after knowing that he’s kept my siblings and me daggered in boxes for up to centuries? He kept Finn locked away for 900 years, and he didn’t even _like_ Finn.” She pauses and adds, “And since you’re not an Original vampire, obviously he can’t dagger you and lock you away for safekeeping. So it’s down to violence and bloodshed until he feels his point has been made.”

“His point being…?”

A flash of irritation crosses Rebekah’s face as she responds impatiently, “He has feelings for you. You’d do well to accept them sooner, rather than later, and save all of us the unnecessary gestures. I can’t wait to get out of this godforsaken town.”

“And… _why_ can’t you leave?” Caroline asks, genuinely curious.

The Original vampire rolls her eyes before responding, somehow managing to sound both blunt and condescending at the same time as she says, “Because _Nik_ refuses to leave you behind, and since you insist on staying here… _my family_ is stuck here with you.”

Despite herself, Caroline can’t help the guilt she felt at the older vampire’s words. “I wasn’t aware that anyone could make you do anything you didn’t want to, considering you’re a thousand years old.” She finally says, keeping her tone light.

Rebekah scoffs. “Family clearly doesn’t mean anything to you, then.” At the look of indignation on Caroline’s face, the female Mikaelson retorts, “When you’ve lived as long as we have, family is _everything_. No matter how much we fight, we always stand together in the end.”

Caroline doesn’t have a response, and the female Mikaelson stresses, “ _Always and forever._ And unfortunately for me, this includes _you_.”

* * *

_“Starlit nights,  
They keep me looking at your starlit eyes.  
The way the stars impact your crazy mind, it makes me leave everything behind.  
I never knew that it would be so great,  
Listen to the comets soar at their amazing rate.  
And yeah I don’t know what to do when we walk out of sight,  
Except to look at all the stars in this amazing night.”_

* * *

His soulmate is standing at the balcony, watching the sky shift from sunset to dark.

It’s been a couple days since he all but kidnapped her. At first, he felt her betrayal and anger.

Klaus can feel how unsettled she is through their bond, despite the seemingly serene visage she presents. Caroline has dragged an armchair out and is now curled up in it, softly singing a song that he doesn’t recognize.

He stands at the balcony doorway, unsure of what to say.

The song eventually fades, and then her voice breaks through the quiet of the night, small and hurt, as she asks, “Why didn’t you just _talk_ to me?”

He takes a couple steps towards her, stopping just short of the armchair before he asks just as quietly, “Would you have listened, had I done so?”

Caroline’s voice is accusatory as she turns to look at him and says, “You didn’t have to kidnap me and take me away from my home. From my friends and from my mom.”

Klaus shrugs, hating how helpless he feels standing before his soulmate. “The Salvatores were planning to use you as collateral damage. You might want to believe in the best of your friends, but they’re not your friends. At least, not the elder Salvatore. I couldn’t risk your safety.”

He doesn’t mention the incident at the Grill with the doppelganger and the Bennett witch. He doesn’t have to, as a flicker of hurt crosses her face and she falls silent for a moment before she finally says, “So you thought you could make a decision for me instead of consulting with me.”

He sighs. He doesn’t want to start a fight with her. “How can I acquit myself, sweetheart?”

Caroline doesn’t respond immediately. She stares up at the sky, at the twinkling stars, and then she finally says, “You can start by letting me go.”

* * *

She is home less than an hour later, escorted by an entourage of hybrds and older vampires.

Her mom is surprisingly understanding and accepting of her situation, all things considered. Caroline decides it’s best to just rip the bandage off and essentially ambushes Liz in the living room on her first day off in a month, blurting out the fact that Klaus is her soulmate.

“Well,” Liz Forbes finally says, a stunned expression on her face as she blinks several times before she carefully responds, “I can’t say that I’m thrilled that you’re the soulmate of a thousand-year-old hybrid who has very few morals. _But_ , I also know that there’s no negotiating with who your soulmate is, and I sincerely hope, for both your sakes, that he treats you the way you deserve to be treated, Care-bear. Because if he hurts you, and I don’t care that he’s one of the most powerful supernatural creatures in existence, I’ll kill him.”

At that, Caroline can’t help the grateful smile that overcomes her as she simply says, “Thanks, mom.”

* * *

It takes them time to figure things out.

Klaus learns about her mother and about the obstacle they’ve had to overcome to get to where they are now. He listens as she shares about the full extent of her history with the Mystic Falls gang. He spares Bonnie’s and Elena’s lives and freedom in exchange for a regular donation of doppelganger blood. He doesn’t say anything, but he also teaches her to feed from the vein without killing.

She learns about his siblings and bonds with them – she and Rebekah grudgingly bond over shopping and movies, and they enjoy it far more than they will ever admit; she learns about food and culture and _cooking_ from Elijah, who smirks when her jaw drops once she learns of the latter; she wins Kol over by catching him up on all the technology he’s missed out on from being daggered and she laughs at his attempts at using slang and emojis. And when the oldest Mikaelson daughter makes an appearance, Caroline is relieved that there’s at least one _sane_ Mikaelson in the family.

True to his paranoid nature, Klaus insists that she be surrounded by an entourage of security at all times, or accompanied by himself or a member of his family. She refuses, and it takes them a week to negotiate down to a rotating team that stays close by but out of sight unless it is absolutely necessary for them to intervene. She also demands that her bodyguards be generously compensated for the work they _willingly choose_ to do and that they are allowed to have days off.

Caroline cuts ties with Elena and Bonnie. As much as it hurts her to do so, she _cannot_ trust them. Not when it comes to her life, and not when it comes to her soulmate. There is simply too much distrust, bloodshed, and hatred. And as much as it hurts to admit, she is tired of trying to appease everyone but herself. She chooses herself and her happiness, for once, and she will _not_ regret it.

She also makes Klaus work to earn her forgiveness. She ignores his initial attempts at bribery, donating the flowers to the nearby hospital and pretending that she doesn’t stash away the sketches he’s made of her.

Her soulmate surprises her.

He takes her on romantic picnics out in the woods, dances with her in the middle of an empty restaurant two towns over, and tells her about his family. He tells her about his travels and about the places he would like to take her. He understands that she doesn’t want to leave Mystic Falls immediately, but that doesn’t mean that she can’t plan for a couple vacations. Like spring break in London and then summer touring Europe.

One evening, Klaus demands her _confession_ ; her honesty about her feelings. She admits that she’s not in love with him _yet_ , but she won’t deny her feelings for him. She can feel the warmth through their bond when she does, feel his surprise and acceptance.

“I’ve loved you from the moment you entered the world, sweetheart.” He responds quietly. “Even before I knew you, I had a millennia to come to terms with the fact that I might not ever have a soulmate, and then you appeared when I least expected it.”

Caroline wishes she could stop being surprised by her hybrid of a soulmate, but she can’t help but feel a sense of relief at his next words. “I would’ve waited another thousand years for you. What we have, right here, right now? It’s enough, for now.”

* * *

His favorite moments are the quiet ones.

The early mornings, when he wakes up as the first rays of sunlight peek through the sheer curtains. When he can look over and watch his soulmate curled up by his side, snuggling into his warmth. He can only watch in awe at how vulnerable she is in this moment, and how much trust she is placing in him to keep her safe while she slumbers.

The lazy afternoons when he’s painting in his studio, and Caroline is splayed out on the couch, reading a novel or magazine or working on an assignment for class.

The late evenings, when she breaks up yet another fight between him and his siblings, or pulls him away from his latest art project, shyly tucking loose strands of hair behind her ears as she whispers to him that it’s bedtime, and it never fails to draw him away from whatever it is that he’s engaged in at the time.

 _Bedtime_ – such a simple word that conveys so much meaning. For Klaus, it means that his soulmate wants him to hold her, to drop kisses on her face and on her lips, to remind her that he loves her and that he is hers. She returns their shared affections, but it still takes his breath away that she relies on him to be her constant.

_Klaus has waited a thousand years for this, and he’s not going to waste another second._

* * *

**_FIN._ **


End file.
